The Prophet
by fffiction
Summary: Contains spoilers for Deathly Hallows. Rose Weasley's sixth year at Hogwarts brings back buried, haunting memories, and a new evil emerges in the most unlikely of places.
1. oo1 Rows and Reunions

_A/N: Infinite thanks to my prebeta, kerney. You helped me out immensely. Also: These characters aren't mine, they're Jo's, though I'm having fun playing with them, along with the world Jo so expertly created. _x3_ Now, before I start a rant on something obnoxious and off-topic, we begin:_

**Chapter One: Rows and Reunions**

**1 September 2023**

---

"No. That isn't right," Rose Weasley mumbled, viciously chewing on the end of her quill. She stared down at the open Daily Prophet sitting on her lap._Fourteen across. Six letters. Only one has ever escaped. What could it be?_ She went through all the possibilities in her head—what could escape? All of the magical creatures she knew of that could possibly fit the criteria had more than six letters. _It has to be something that moves._ But in the Wizarding World,_everything_ moved around to some extent—what kind of clue was that? She furrowed her brow, already frustrated with the blasted crossword puzzle.

Suddenly, the paper swam in front of her. She shook her head slightly, wanting to banish the image she knew was coming. _Not right now, I'm busy!_ she told her own head sternly, sounding almost exactly like her mother. But it became evident that the vision would not be quelled; she finally succumbed to it, hoping that it would be quick.

_A large, pale hand, drawn into a fist, connects with an equally pale face. Vivid green eyes widen in surprise; a pair of glasses, now broken, fly to the ground with a clatter. Someone gasps in the background of the scene. A wand is drawn._

And then she was back. Rose wrinkled her nose. _That was it?_ She felt tired and sluggish, as she did whenever she had a vision, and started to vigorously rub her eyes, forgetting that one of her hands had a smudge of ink on it and that she was probably going to look like _she_ was the one who was punched now.

A gentle hand reached towards her face and pulled her hand away. "Rosie, you've got ink on your face now," said a familiar voice. She smiled a bit, looking up from her paper into the face of her boyfriend, Scorpius Malfoy. He studied her face for a moment, frowning slightly. "Have you had another, then?"

She shrugged and nodded. "Really bad timing, too. Now I can't think, and I _so_ want to get this done. Bloody fourteen across'll have my knickers before I figure it out."

Scorpius grinned evilly and hooked a finger around her belt loop. "Those are mine," he said, ignoring Rose's cuff to his ear. "Anyway, why must you be so stubborn? We could probably help you," he said, motioning to himself first and then to the corner of the train compartment in which they sat, where Rose's cousin and best friend Albus was snogging his girlfriend Juliet Scamander like there was no tomorrow. Rose made a scoffing noise, but before she could protest, Scorpius snatched the paper from her lap and studied it for a second. "Fourteen across," he recited, a wicked smile slowly spreading over his face. "Six letters. _Only one has ever escaped._ Oh, honestly, Rosie, that's _easy!_"

Albus and Juliet resurfaced, looking smug and confused, respectively. "How could you not figure that out instantly?" Albus said, shaking his head. "And you call yourself a Weasley."

Juliet furrowed her brow. "I don't know it either," she said, biting her lip.

Albus looked down at her kindly, placing a long white finger on her nose. "Of course you don't, love," he said softly. "You don't follow Quidditch!"

"Quidditch?" Rose interjected suddenly, snatching the paper back from Scorpius, who was watching her with a mixture of amusement and fascination. "What in the name of Merlin's saggy left—oh!" She studied the paper again, her ears reddening with embarrassment. "A snitch!"

"Finally got there, have you?" Albus teased, grinning over at Scorpius. "Took you long enough."

"Oh, hush up, you. I'm not a star seeker like _some_ people in this compartment. Maybe Quidditch isn't the only thing I can focus on for more than ten seconds, yeah?"

Scorpius raised his hands up in defense. "Hey, _I'm_ not a Seeker! And last time I checked, you were a bigger Quidditch fan than even me!"

Juliet chewed her lip, her large, rather protuberant eyes fixed on Rose. "But you're the new Gryffindor chaser, yeah?"

Albus practically fell out of his seat. "What?! James told me he didn't even do tryouts yet--"

"Well, he did," Rose said, shrugging slightly. "On the last day before our O.W.L. tests. He only invited five or six of us and had us play a quick game. He said that he didn't want it to be a big deal, considering what Teddy said he went through when he tried to replace one of his Chasers. Apparently there were only three serious players in the bunch- all the rest were his admirers."

Scorpius furrowed his brow. "But why would he hold tryouts at the very end of the year? Normally they're done in the beginning of the year, after the seventh years have all left."

"I didn't tell you about this?" Albus said, his fingers trailing through Juliet's long blonde hair. "Michael Bexley left at the end of the year, said he was done with Quidditch. Apparently it was taking up all of his time, and he said he didn't wanted to spend his last year at Hogwarts being bullied around by a great prat like James." He shrugged. "They were practically dueling by the time I stepped in. I thought I'd told you."

Scorpius frowned. "Well, you didn't. And there was nothing about you making Chaser in your letters, Rosie. Why didn't _you_ at least tell me? You said you tell me everything!"

"Well, it's not as if I can say anything about being a Gryffindor in my letters! You know what _both_ of our fathers would do if they found out about us. I was going to tell you. You're just overreacting."

Scorpius blanched. "I'm not overreacting! I'm just always the last to know everything, that's all. It's not fair; I can't see any of my friends all summer but you two live right next door to each other. I missed both of you so much! And you only wrote, like, once a week even though you said—"

Rose leaned over the compartment bench and kissed him. For a second, he was stiff with surprise, but after a few moments he leaned into it and the two were snogging all over the compartment bench. Both teenagers forgot about everything else for a minute; he was mussing up her hair, she was clawing at his back. His hands had traveled to her bra strap before Albus coughed discreetly, reminding them that they were not alone.

They broke apart; Scorpius looked sheepish, but Rose just grinned. Albus wrinkled his nose at the two. "Oversexed deviants. Honestly, you two, just because I'm fine with you dating doesn't mean I want to see my best friend and my baby cousin _shagging _on the floor right in front of me!"

Rose wrinkled her nose. "I'm not your baby cousin! I'm easily two months older than you, you great prat!" Albus just rolled his eyes. "Besides," she added, leaning into Scorpius, "I had to shut him up _somehow._"

"Hey!" Scorpius protested, feigning indignation. "At least _pretend _that you think I'm irresistible!"

"I _do _think you're irresistible," she said, kissing him on the nose. "And I'm very, very glad that we don't have to pretend that we don't know each other anymore." Scorpius grinned, then pulled Rose back into another kiss.

Albus, who had settled his arm around Juliet's shoulders, made a gagging sound, but Juliet silently reprimanded him and he stopped, kissing her with almost as much fervor as Scorpius was kissing Rose in the seat across from them. For a few moments, there was relative peace in the compartment, everybody being too busy to talk, but that didn't last; with a scraping noise, they realized that the compartment door had opened and broke away from their significant others. Albus and Rose looked over at the door impatiently, but Scorpius and Juliet both looked nervous.

"Nice going, baby brother," said James Potter, leaning casually against the compartment doorframe. "So you've finally snagged the Scamander-Lovegood offspring? Dad'll be so proud." Albus flushed, but said nothing; Juliet chewed her lip.

"And who is this that is so willingly taking advantage of my dear baby cousin?" James said, his eyes traveling to the other side of the compartment. His eyes met Rose's, then Scorpius', and the easy grin slid off his face like water off a duck's back. His brown eyes flashed angrily. "Malfoy? I thought I told you to stay away from her," he said, his hand going to his wand. "And you, Rosie, snogging a Slytherin like that! You're a Gryffindor, you're a Weasley! Have some pride!"

His wand came out, and it was now pointed at Scorpius, who looked frightened and defiant at the same time. The latter opened his mouth to say something as his hand twitched to his own wand, but Rose was in between the two in a flash, her ears burning so red they looked as though they might catch fire. "James, put it away before I use your own mum's Bat Bogey hex on you," she said, her voice starting out dangerously low and rising in pitch and volume with every word she spoke. "And listen to me: Scorpius and I are going to date whether you like it or not, all right? You act so overprotective of me just because of what—what_happened_, but I can take care of myself! He's not _evil_ just because he's in Slytherin—look at your own brother, you great selfish prat, he's in Slytherin and you _know _he's a good person. But still, after he got Sorted you wouldn't speak to him for months! What does that say about you, huh? Besides, I know what you were doing, going through the compartments like this, you great filthy hypocrite—I can see Grace Michaels hiding outside of the compartment. So do us all a favor and get your bloody face out of here so you can shag your girlfriend in peace and I can live my life as I so please!"

There was a pregnant silence as James looked at her, shock written all over his handsome features—this was an uncharacteristic outburst for Rose, who was normally cool and collected, and the fact that she'd mentioned 'what happened' in her childhood was almost unthinkable. The cousins stared at each other for a moment, blue eyes meeting brown, Rose breathing heavily and James slowly putting his wand away. And then, without a word, he turned and left the compartment, shutting the door quietly behind him.

No one said anything for quite some time. Rose sat down on one of the benches, her face in her hands, and Scorpius gingerly sat beside her, placing a gentle arm around her shoulders. Albus looked unnaturally pale as he watched the two of them; Juliet had her face buried into his neck and he had both his arms around her waist.

After what seemed like forever but was probably closer to a minute, Albus spoke, his voice shaking. "Rosie, that was… that was bloody _brilliant. _Are you all right?"

Rose looked up, her eyes rather shiny. "Yeah, I think so. I—I don't know what came over me, I just snapped—you know he's been saying horrible things about Scorpius all summer. I know he means well, he thinks he's protecting me, but—oh, I do hope he's okay," she finished lamely, biting her lip. The weight of Scorpius' arm on her shoulders felt nice, grounding; she was glad that he was there, and she felt herself leaning into him without consciously making a decision to do so. It had been so long since they'd last seen each other…

---

She remembered quite vividly their last meeting, on the final day of school. They had both finished with testing and had one full glorious day of sunshine to spend together before being apart for an excruciating three months. They'd walked hand in hand along the lake, talking quietly about Quidditch and the weather, about how happy they were that lessons were finally over and about how much they'd miss the school. Scorpius had stopped walking at that point and she'd turned to see him staring at her with an odd, hungry expression in his eyes; quite suddenly and without warning, he'd leaned forward and kissed her. It had been their first kiss.

Rose had loved Scorpius for years. She'd been conscious of it ever since they were twelve and had come across a bird with a broken wing in the Hogwarts grounds; Scorpius had mended the wing clumsily with a spell he barely knew and then kept it in the Slytherin dungeons until it could properly fly again. He, too, had loved her since they met, and had told her one night in the middle of their fifth year. She remembered how pink his cheeks were, how she had wanted nothing more than to kiss him but had merely hugged him, worried about how he would react, worried that she wouldn't be good at it. It had been torture, the first few weeks; they had held hands awkwardly but still spoken about the same things. In fact, their relationship had barely changed at all except that Rose had then become aware that all she wanted, all she'd ever wanted, was to grab Scorpius as tightly as she could and kiss him, to muss up his already tousled blonde hair and to make him moan for more.

So, after weeks of wanting him, needing him, when they finally kissed Rose found it hard to control herself. Something primal had risen up in her and she'd given in to a reckless abandon, kissing him deeper and more sensually than she'd meant to. She'd pushed him up against a tree and her fingers had clawed his back; he, too, was breathing heavily, his own hands becoming tangled in her long, curly red hair.

But before it could have gone any farther, Scorpius' body had become rigid against her own and fallen backward onto the ground with a dull thud. Rose had looked from Scorpius' fallen figure to the source of the Body Bind curse: Her own cousin, James Potter, who was standing above Scorpius menacingly and telling the boy to stay away from his baby cousin. Rose hadn't been able to say a word; she'd stood there, pale and silent, until James had left and she could release Scorpius from the spell. He'd kissed her more gently afterwards and assured her that he still loved her, no matter what. They had made plans for the summer, for keeping their affair secret to everyone in the family but Albus and her uncle Charlie, who was very understanding when he walked in on the two of them kissing each other goodbye in a bathroom at King's Cross.

Now, after three excruciating months away from one another, Rose couldn't wait to get Scorpius alone again. Of course, she didn't mean to go all the way with him- at least not yet- but it would be nice to do something more than just snog, especially in front of her cousin—what a turnoff.

The light had faded outside of the train window. It was getting later, and they were getting closer to the school that was Rose's second home. She felt the familiar excitement thrill up from her stomach and through her chest; snuggling deeper into Scorpius' embrace, she closed her eyes and focused on his heartbeat, feeling perfectly content.

---

"Rosie, could you pass the shepherd's pie?"

Rose blinked, reluctantly tearing her eyes away from the Slytherin table to look her best Gryffindor friend in the face. "Sorry?"

Nora Parish pursed her lips, her chocolate brown eyes narrowing. "Honestly, Rosie. You haven't been this way in a long time. What's up? Aren't you glad to see me? You didn't even come find me on the train."

Rosie felt her ears burn. "I'm sorry about that," she said, and she truly meant it. "I was… I was with Scorpius," she added, knowing that that would probably make it worse. Despite her best efforts, Rosie could never get Nora to like Scorpius, and vice versa; the two were just too different. In fact, Nora held the opinion that most Gryffindor students did—that all Slytherins were rubbish. It took years for Rosie to even muster up a relationship of cool apathy between Nora and Albus.

Just as Rose feared, Nora's already annoyed expression worsened. "What, now that you guys have kissed you're going to abandon your House friends? I know you never liked me as much as _them,_ but you could at least make an effort."

Okay, this was going a bit far. Rose felt anger flare up in her belly but quelled it—for now. "Nora, you know you're my best friend, so don't try to make me feel guilty. And just because Scorpius kissed me doesn't mean that I'm going to stop being friends with you. I wasn't even looking at him!" she added defiantly. "I was… I'm worried about Albus," she finished quietly.

The anger melted off of Nora's features in moments. "What happened?"

"He's been acting strange all summer- shutting himself up in his room, sometimes even refusing to come up for meals. And… I don't know, his demeanor seems different too. Mostly he's just the same old Albus, but every once in a while there's a flash of something different, something_more._ Almost like a mean streak or something. It makes me uneasy."

Nora went into concerned-friend mode almost instantly. "Has anyone else said anything?"

"No one knows him better than I do."

"Even Scorpius?"

"We haven't seen him all summer."

"Why not?"

"We're not allowed to associate, remember?"

"Who told you that?"

"No one. Well, my dad as a joke, but it was mostly inferred. Can we please get back to the topic at hand?"

Nora furrowed her brow. "Well… I'm not sure what to tell you. We'll just have to keep an eye on him. And if worse comes to worst, we can always go to McGonagall."

"No way," Rose said, blanching. "There is no way we go to McGonagall about this. And it's probably nothing, anyway."

"But if it's not?"

There was a pregnant silence. Rose scowled at Nora, defeated. After a moment: "How come you always know what to say?"

"Magic," Nora said airily. Rose nearly spat out her pumpkin juice.

It was good to be back.


	2. oo2 Nostalgia and Nightmares

**Chapter Two :: Nostalgia && Nightmares.**

**2 September 2023**

"_Lumos._"

Five pudgy toddlers scrambled around the living room of the Burrow, grinning at Rose from their shiny photograph. She looked down at them, all pasted into the heavy book on her lap, smiling. This was probably her favorite picture in the scrapbook; not only was it the most crinkled and smudged, but even the page it had been pasted onto a few years ago was growing worn with use. The corner was folded down.

Rose couldn't really put why she loved the photograph so much into words. She had tried, many times over, but nothing really seemed to sum it up. It was just so… perfect.

Over at the far left of the picture, a four-year-old Albus was desperately clutching the edge of a table while a short, pudgy Rosie, her bouncing curls shaking as she giggled, pulled him into the frame. Albus looked cross at first glance, but there was something else there; his green eyes were obstinately locked onto the ground, though you could see, if you looked closely, that he was trying not to giggle with his cousin. Rose, on the other hand, was obviously delighted at all the attention; she even seemed to be mugging, her little pearly teeth bared to the camera with a smile.

Meanwhile, more towards the middle, an impossibly tiny Lily was standing shakily, looking fully confused at the commotion around her and swaying dangerously every few moments or so. Luckily, a slightly older James reached forward every time she did so and steadied her, looking at his sister half exasperatedly, half tenderly, and with a maturity beyond his five years.

Hugo was hiding underneath the couch, terrified.

Rose smiled and tapped her brother's picture affectionately, then turned the page. Next picture.

This one was taken a few years later, also in the Burrow's living room; Rose looked to be about seven, and she was pouting, red-faced and obstinate, over something long forgotten. Albus was at her side, less shy than he'd been in the other picture, but still in shadow. He seemed to be trying to get her attention, but she would only turn to stick her tongue out at him every once in a while before turning away again. Next to her, Hugo was sitting on the floor, his nose in a book that looked to be about twice his size. Lily, still tiny for her age, sat next to him, looking as if she meant to read over his shoulder but couldn't really understand the book well enough to do so. James sat at the far left, looking up at a fifteen year old Teddy Lupin with something akin to reverence as the older boy changed his own nose into a pig snout.

"Rosie?"

Rose snapped the scrapbook shut and looked over to the dormitory door, from which she could hear a soft rapping noise. She glanced at her clock- it was just past one in the morning. Wearily, she stood up, wand still in hand, and padded over to the door. She tried to be as quiet as possible, especially when she passed Nora's bed; as lovely as she was during waking hours, Nora was not one to rouse in the middle of the night without expecting at least a good hex leveled at you. _And,_ thought Rose bitterly as the tapping got louder, _it doesn't help that she sleeps closest to the door. _The redhead frowned, confused. Who could want to talk to her at this hour?

With a sigh, she quietly opened the door and was almost bowled over by a small, auburn-haired figure. Rose managed to keep her balance only by grabbing onto one of Nora's bedposts; once she was steady, she frowned and patted her sobbing cousin on the back.

"R-R-Rosie!" Roxanne Weasley hiccupped loudly into Rose's nightgown. "I w- w- want to go home!"

Rose wrinkled her nose, but refrained from hushing the girl. Instead, she led her cousin back out of the dormitory and into the common room, where a fire was still dimly burning. Thankfully, the area was clear of other students; it wasn't until closer to exam time that you saw the harried older kids studying into the wee hours of the morning.

Gently, Rose sat Roxanne onto the couch and waited for the girl to calm down a bit. When she was just sniffling, Rose conjured a hanky and handed it to her younger cousin. "Roxie, tell me what's wrong, love."

"I- I miss my mummy," Roxanne said, her hazel eyes red-rimmed and wide. "And my daddy, and Freddie is being m-mean to me and Molly and L-Lucy won't t-t-talk to me! I want to go h- h- home!"

Rose nodded sympathetically. This had happened with most of her younger female cousins over the years; because they were a part of such a large, close-knit family, it was especially hard to leave home for the first time. The first night of the first year seemed to be the most difficult—many girls spent it in the common room crying.

Rosie suppressed a grin as she remembered her own first night at Hogwarts, in which her eleven-year-old self had filched the Invisibility Cloak from James' dormitory and gone to find her cousin Albus in the Slytherin dormitory, only to discover that he was out trying to find her. They'd spent that night talking—and crying, a little bit—together in a deserted classroom.

"Do you want to know a secret?" Rose asked her cousin. The girl nodded, eyes huge. "Your brother was out here crying just the same as you on _his_ first night. So were Molly and Lucy- they even came to find me, just like you did."

Strictly speaking, this wasn't true; Rose had just happened upon her uncle Percy's twin girls crying in the common room two years ago, and she had no idea if Roxie's older brother Fred had cried. Still, she guessed that he had, and that was good enough.

Roxie was smiling now, if only slightly, through her tears. Rose decided to push it just a little farther; if she played her cards right, she could be asleep in a matter of minutes.

"Tell you what. Tomorrow, I'll talk to Fred and tell him to be nicer to you, along with Molly and Lucy. You should go back to bed—it's your first day tomorrow! Aren't you excited? And I bet at breakfast you'll have a letter from your mom and dad straight away." Rose tried to look excited for her little cousin through the drowsiness threatening to overtake her.

"C—can I stay with you for a minute longer?"

Roxie looked too adorable [not to mention slightly pathetic to refuse, so Rose just nodded and let the younger girl settle back onto her shoulder. She'd just sleep in History of Magic tomorrow.

---

_A dank, pale room, cold wandlight illuminating the center of the hated place but leaving the corners shadowed…_

"No."

_A small, pale figure curled up on the floor, barely stirring, smudges of dirt on her arms and legs, her once brilliant red hair fanned out across the floor, lank and faded..._

"Stop it."

_Two bulky figures advancing on the girl, one picking her up roughly by the arm and propping her against the wall, studying her face with a leering smile…_

"Leave me alone."

_A hand, reaching for a nearby wand; desperate wishes for something, anything, to save her…_

"Stop it."

'_She's such a pretty girl. Too bad her father is too stubborn to save her… she'll never have her first kiss.'_

"Stop."

'_Does that make you sad, girl? I can change it…'_

"No."

_The leering face coming closer, closer, closer, and a sharp pain all over..._

"Quit it!" Rose screamed as she jerked herself awake. She felt disoriented, nauseated by fear and fatigue; there was a sharp pain in her hand, and her arms both ached terribly. She could barely register the world around her; in fact, she wasn't even sure where she was—she just knew that it wasn't her bed, neither at home nor at Hogwarts.

Rose heard murmurs around her and felt a small, warm hand take her arm gently and pull her out of her sitting position; she blinked slowly and let herself be steered around, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the light.

"I can take her." Another hand was on Rose now, rough and large; it cupped her elbow in a sweet caress.

"Thanks, but I think I can manage." The smaller hand tightened its hold and Rose felt herself moving faster.

"She's my girlfriend! I should take her."

"She's my best friend, Malfoy. Now get out of the way; we need to go to the hospital wing."

Slowly, Rose felt herself adjusting to the light around her, and she recognized the two voices as belonging to Nora and Scorpius. She frowned and looked around her; the members of her History of Magic class were all watching her with frightened, concerned eyes. She shook her head, feeling embarrassment rise up in her chest. "I'm fine," she said hoarsely, and Scorpius and Nora both jumped and snapped their eyes to her. "Really. I only—I only fell asleep."

"Rosie, you did not _just fall asleep_." Nora's voice was quiet but stern, and Rose felt oddly comforted by the familiar tone. "Honestly, I thought that this had stopped after third year…"

Rose shook her head. "What are you talking about? I'm _fine._" Why was everyone making such a fuss over her?

Scorpius' hold tightened on Rose, and when she looked over at him, there was urgency in his eyes. "Rosie, please. You have to go to the hospital wing."

Rose felt achy, tired, and embarrassed, and she was _not_ in the mood to argue. She rolled her eyes. "Fine. Fine, I'll go."

She saw Nora and Scorpius exchange looks, and then Nora nodded and let Rose go, albeit reluctantly. "I'll talk to you after, okay?"

Rose nodded and tried not to snort at her friend's melodramatic behavior. Still, she felt rather shaky on her feet, and she was glad that Scorpius' hand had not left her arm. It now steadied her as she left the classroom.

Once they were out and the door was closed, Scorpius wheeled around and looked Rose full in the face. His features were distorted with concern and something else… was it anger?

"What the _hell_ was that, Rose?"

It was most definitely anger. Rose frowned. "What the _hell_ are you talking about?" she asked flippantly, matching his tone. The energy expelled by the taunt, however, cost her; she wobbled a little, and Scorpius put a hand out to steady her almost unconsciously. He looked angrier still, his normally warm gray eyes flashing cool.

"We're just sitting in History of Magic, and then you start mumbling in your sleep. The louder you get, the more little marks start appearing—little bruises, cuts. And then you fucking _scream _and your entire _hand _splits open! Don't fucking tell me you're_fine,_ Rosie."

There was a moment of silence, and then Rose looked down at her palm; she did not even have to guess if it was the right or the left. She knew. This was not the first time that that palm had been sliced open.

Sure enough, a nasty-looking gash had appeared there, along with several bruises around the wrist and forearm. Rose felt her eyes burn, and tried to blink back the tears she knew were coming.

Hadn't she gotten over all that? By the time third year had rolled around, the nightmares had gotten less and less frequent until they'd finally stopped altogether. Why were they returning? She felt tired and ashamed, emotions that only intensified when she realized that the tears she'd been struggling against were now released onto her cheeks.

Tenderly, Scorpius reached up and brushed away a few stray tears. "I'm sorry, Rosie, I didn't mean to yell…"

He sounded sincerely sorry, and Rose shook her head. "It's not you. I just…" She trailed off, biting her lip.

"Will you go to the hospital wing?"

"Nev—Professor Longbottom can help me." Rose saw Scorpius' skeptical expression, and frowned. "He's helped me before—he knows what to do."

"Before? You mean that this wasn't the first time?"

"Scorpius, please," Rose pleaded, tears still streaming down her face. "I—I don't want to talk about it. Not now."

He looked as though he were going to say something, then thought better of it and just nodded instead, slipping his arm around her waist. They walked together to the Herbology professor's office in relative silence, Scorpius looking confused and angry, Rose silently crying beside him. Every few minutes he would turn to her and wipe away a tear or kiss her cheek; it was sweet, but somehow tense. All in all, Rose was rather relieved when they got to the professor's office.

Professor Longbottom opened the door on Rose's first knock, and he looked slightly confused at the sight of them. His round face curved into a frown. "Shouldn't you be in class?"

Rose lifted up her cut hand in reply, and the professor nodded, his frown increasing but losing the confusion. "Come in," he said quietly, stepping aside so that they could enter the small office.

There was a small table in the middle of the cramped, plant-filled office. Professor Longbottom motioned for Rose and Scorpius to take a seat, and they did—Scorpius rather awkwardly. He waved his wand and three steaming mugs of chocolate appeared in the air and floated down to the table. Rose took hers as soon as it landed and drank deeply—instantly she felt better. The professor took a seat across from the two students and frowned. "Since when has this started happening again?"

"Since now," Rose answered, feeling her cheeks burn.

"Where?"

"History of Magic. I fell asleep."

"Understandable. Did you speak?"

Rose looked over to Scorpius, who nodded. "She mumbled, and then got louder and louder… she woke up after a scream."

"And the wounds?"

"Same as always," said Rose, looking down at her hand. The gash seemed to be healing itself already. She sighed, feeling tired.

Professor Longbottom frowned. "Finish your chocolate. Do you feel up to sleeping?"

Rose blinked, feeling the blood drain from her face. "I don't—"

"They're dead," he said flatly, looking Rose right in the eye. "It's over. You have nothing more to fear." Rose nodded, feeling ashamed again, but then the professor smiled a bit. "However, if you don't want to be alone… I'm sure that I can get your friend Mr. Malfoy exempt from his classes this afternoon as well. It is an emergency, after all."

Rose smiled slightly and nodded, relieved that she wouldn't be alone. She stood, and Scorpius followed suit, Professor Longbottom close behind. He frowned and put a hand on Rose's shoulder, squeezing it affectionately. "You're okay now," he said, looking her straight in the eyes. "We saved you, remember? It all turned out okay." He then turned to Scorpius. "Make sure she sleeps," he said. "She needs it."

After saying their 'thank you's and 'goodbye's, Rose and Scorpius left Professor Longbottom's office.

---

There was a terrible, billowing silence in which boy and girl just stared at one another, each unable to speak. Finally, after what seemed like forever:

"Why didn't you tell me before?"

Scorpius' voice did not sound angry anymore; on the contrary, it was almost pitiful in its pain. Rose felt like crying again. "Scorpius, I—I can't talk about it. It's always been hard for me. Only a few people know."

"Albus knows," Scorpius supplied. His tone was slightly accusatory, and Rose felt herself bristle.

"Albus is my cousin, and my best friend," she said rather coolly. "He was there when it—He was around for my entire childhood. Of course he knows."

"And Nora knows."

It was as if Scorpius hadn't even been listening. Rose felt her voice rise in pitch and volume with every word. "Of course Nora knows! I've shared a dormitory with her since I was eleven. She used to be the one to _take_ me to Nev—Professor Longbottom's office!"

"Well, if Al and Nora know, and they're your best friends, how come I don't? You know you can tell me anything, Rosie, and I won't think less of you." He reached for her hand tenderly, but Rose jerked away, her eyes shiny with tears.

"Have you even considered that this isn't about _you_? I love you, but _I'm_ not ready to talk about it! Nora only knows because Professor Longbottom told her after the third or fourth time I woke up bleeding from the hand, and Al heard from the rest of our family while it was all happening. I've never told anyone firsthand because it's hard enough only getting glimpses in dreams! I don't want to relive this. So I'm sorry, Scorpius, but you're going to have to deal with this one thing that I can't tell you."

Rose turned away before Scorpius could see her tears and ran down the corridor towards her common room, only looking back once as she rounded the corner.

The image of Scorpius standing alone in that corridor looking broken and defeated burned itself into Rose's memory after a split second and then she was gone.

---

_**A/N:**__ Thanks so much to everyone who responded to this story! Please, continue to review and subscribe; I like to know when people have read my fic, and what they thought of it._

_Special thanks for this chapter go to my friend __**Periwinkle4444**__ for being appropriately enthused about my plot plans and for putting up with my incessant babbling._

_Also because I'm probably going to keep bombarding her with chapters and then quizzing her on them later._

_x3_


	3. oo3 Sleeplessness and Stealth

**Chapter Three : Sleeplessness and Stealth.  
**

**2 September 2023.**

Rose Weasley, when upset, was never one to retreat into solitude.

In fact, she craved human contact almost all the time, and especially when things weren't going so well. It was a normal reaction for her.

However, it seemed that the normal reaction was next to impossible at the moment.

Rose was going through the list in her mind, and it looked bleak. Almost automatically she crossed off any cousins that weren't Albus; the younger ones wouldn't understand, and the older ones were too protective. That left only non-Weasley friends, as Al was nowhere to be found.

Her only choices were Nora and Scorpius, the former of which was in class; the latter she wouldn't—couldn't—talk to just yet.

So Rose really had no choice but to lock herself into the nearest broom closet and go it alone. She wasn't too heartbroken about having to turn to cleaning supplies in her hour of need; after all, if there was no one close to her that she could speak to, she'd really rather be alone.

However, it was not to be. Barely five minutes into her crying jag, a soft knock sounded on the door. _Scorpius._ Rose ignored it.

"Rosie?"

Okay, that was certainly not Scorpius' voice; it sounded more like a finch than a teenage boy. It was vaguely familiar, but still Rose gave no reply. If it wasn't Al or Nora, she didn't want company.

"I know you probably don't want to talk to anyone right now, but… I was passing Uncle Neville's office just now and I heard what happened. I know you're really upset, and I want to sit with you—you don't have to explain, or even talk at all if you don't want to."

Well, this was odd. Rose lifted her stinging, red-rimmed eyes to the door of the closet curiously, trying to place whom exactly was speaking to her. That voice… she _knew_ that voice!

"When I was little, whenever I was upset, my mum would come in my room and just sit with me for a while—no questions, no answers, just… sitting. It helped so much. I want to help you not be upset anymore."

Slowly, Rose lifted her wand and pointed it at the doorknob; the door swung open quietly, and the light temporarily blinded her. Before her eyes could adjust, however, the tall, thin figure in the hall had stepped into the closet and shut the door again, crouching down beside the crying girl. Rose blinked and leaned her head onto a shoulder covered in silky, straggly blonde hair; she knew that hair. She knew who this was.

And true to her word, Juliet Scamander just sat with Rose and let the redhead cry on her shoulder for a very long time, neither one saying a thing.

---

It wasn't until about an hour later, after Rose had calmed down, that an odd fact dawned on her. "D—don't you have class?" she asked Juliet, hiccupping slightly. "I hope you're not skiving off for me."

Juliet shook her head and disentangled herself from Rose slightly so as to look the other girl in the face. "I have two frees now. Normally I spend this time with Al, but…" she trailed off, looking at her shoes.

Rose's heart sunk. "So you've noticed it too, then? I'm honestly worried. I don't know what's gotten into him."

Juliet looked up again, her clear blue eyes meeting Rose's hopefully. "You mean it's not just me?" She seemed to swell with relief. "Thank Merlin. I know Al's track record with girls, and I was so worried that he was losing interest… but he's been distant with you, too?"

Rose nodded, biting her lip. "To tell you the truth, it's been happening since the very end of last year and all through the summer, but it seems to have gotten worse. Usually he's fine, and then all of a sudden—"

"—He gets all moody and reclusive, I know," Juliet said, shaking her head. "He's probably snapped at me a dozen times in the past few days, and he's been locking himself in the Slytherin common room or the library for hours on end."

"Yes!" Rose said, glad that someone else had noticed. "I mean, he's always been ambitious in his studies, but it's getting ridiculous. My dad noticed during the summer; he said Al's been spending more time with his nose in a book than even my mum did when she was in school."

Juliet shook her head. "I want to know what's wrong, but I'm afraid to pry. You know how he's been with girlfriends—I've watched him find any and every reason to break it off. I humor myself, thinking this relationship is different, but I'm not so sure."

The girl looked brokenhearted, and Rose frowned, placing a comforting hand on Juliet's shoulder. "We both know Al's never gone out with a girl for this long before—it's been what, six months now?—and I can tell he really likes you."

"You think so?"

Rose nodded, grinning slightly. "And besides, after today, if he even_thinks_ about breaking your heart, there's going to be hell to pay. You're my hero."

Juliet, too, grinned, and gave Rose a hug. "It was no problem, really; and you've made me feel so much better just now. Call it even?"

"Call it even," Rose agreed. Suddenly, fatigue overcame her, and she had to stifle a yawn. Juliet furrowed her brow.

"I heard Uncle Neville say you needed to sleep—you _do_ look exhausted. Want me to walk you back to the Fat Lady? I'm on my way to Ravenclaw Tower anyway."

Rose stood and shook her head, feigning nonchalance while internally fighting the terror that welled up at the prospect of sleep. "It's fine; I have to make a stop at the library anyway. You go on ahead—and if you see Al, tell him to find me. After I get my book, I'll sleep." She stood and held out a hand to help Juliet up.

Juliet nodded and stood as well, but she didn't look convinced. "Are you sure? I can go to the library with you, I've got time—"

"I'm fine," Rose lied, opening the door to the broom closet and stepping out. "Really. You don't need to worry about me."

Still looking thoroughly unconvinced, Juliet nodded and gave Rose a fleeting hug before disappearing down the hallway. Rose sighed and watched her go, frowning with guilt—she hated lying—and stifling another yawn.

She _was_ tired, that was true, but there was no way she'd let herself sleep—not after today. It was too risky; Rose didn't know what would happen if she fell into that dream again.

What she did know, however, was that although she didn't really need to, she was going to go to the library, if only to relieve a little of the guilt that she still felt for deceiving Juliet. Besides, Rose already had an essay for Professor Altwater, the Potions master—she could pick up a book she needed while she stalled for time.

---

The library doors seemed heavier than usual with Rose's weariness. Stifling another yawn, the girl walked past the tables of her studying peers on her way to the Potions aisle but stopped when a familiar head of tousled black hair caught her eye. Albus seemed to be poring over some mammoth tome with the kind of concentration that she'd only seen before in her mother, or sometimes Hugo when he was studying extra hard. Rose furrowed her brow and took a seat across from her cousin; he didn't even look up. She cleared her throat. "Hello? Anybody home?"

Al looked up; it was evident on his face that he was loath to separate his eyes from the page. "What?" he snapped, sounding uncharacteristically aggressive.

Rose raised her eyebrows and threw her hands up in front of her. "Keep your knickers on, Al, I was just saying hi. Also I need to tell you something."

He frowned, and Rose felt both angry and sad at his attitude; since when had he been this temperamental? And his entire demeanor seemed darker as well; even his eyes looked less bright lately. There was a pause in which the cousins regarded one another—green eyes impatiently, blue eyes sorrowfully.

"Well? Are you going to tell me, or do you expect me to have a guess?" Albus asked, venom in his words. It felt like an arrow to the heart; Rose balked.

"Since when have you been so short-tempered?

"Since my nuisance of a cousin started bothering me while I'm trying to read," he replied coolly, his eyes traveling back town to his book.

Rose stood. "You know what? I'm just going to go. Scorpius will tell you later, anyway."

Al said nothing in reply, just waved his hand apathetically as if to shoo Rose out the door; the action made her feel like crying again. Instead, she just exited the library as quickly as possible and made her way up to Gryffindor Tower, shutting herself up in the dormitory with the bed's curtains drawn so she could think.

At least she wasn't tired anymore.

---

**5 September 2023**

She'd gone three days without sleep, and Rose was starting to feel desperate.

She stumbled through school like a zombie, hair mussed and clothes rumpled; even her studies were starting to slip. In Potions, she'd knocked over an entire bin of beetle eyes; the glittering black beads had spilled everywhere, making Professor Altwater furious. Nora was worried, Albus (who had apologized to her for the incident in the library later that day) was worried; even Scorpius, who Rose had yet to talk to after their fight, kept shooting her concerned looks.

Rumors abounded as well. Those who had been in her History of Magic class on the first day of classes had started talking about her 'unstable mental condition'; still more people had noticed the lack of interaction between Rose and Scorpius and assumed they had broken up. No one but Nora and Al—and probably Professor Longbottom—knew the truth.

Everyone noticed, however, and it wasn't just Rose's close friends that were concerned. Even James had found her the night before sitting like an Inferi in the common room.

"Rosie?" he'd said tentatively—it had been the first thing they'd said to each other since the fight on the train. "Are you okay?"

Rose had looked up at her cousin with an almost delirious smile and nodded slowly. "Y—yes, I think I'm fine. Just very tired. Perhaps some Ennervation Draught is in order. Do you have any?"

James shook his head, regarding his cousin incredulously. "No, I haven't—you should get some more sleep, Rose. Quidditch is coming up in a few days, you know."

"I know, I'll be fi—" Rose cut herself off with a mammoth yawn, and James nodded, taking that as his cue to leave.

"If you're still like this before the game, I'll see what I can do about that Ennervation Draught." James ruffled her hair affectionately and then went back to the other side of the common room, where a gaggle of tittering floozies stood waiting to stoke his already inflated ego with some good old-fashioned hero worship and swoon over his dedication to his dear unwell cousin.

---

Rose hadn't been kidding when she said she needed Ennervation Draught—the idea had grasped her mind a few days ago, and it wouldn't let go. The only problem was actually procuring the stuff.

Finding it was no problem—Healing Centers akin to Muggle pharmacies had set themselves up everywhere recently. Even getting to the nearest one in Hogsmeade wouldn't be an issue what with all the secret passages that the castle held.

No, the main problem was that you had to be of age to buy any D.U.W.D. [Dangerous Unless Within Dosage potion—and Ennervation Draught happened to be just that. Rose, who was only sixteen, was going to have to go to drastic measures without compromising her integrity—well, without _really_ compromising her integrity.

That was why Rose was currently sneaking about the seventh year boy's dormitory in her nightie, the five silver Sickles in her pocket bouncing heavily against her thigh.

There were only four boys in this dormitory: Chester Snipes, the burly Gryffindor who never spoke unless it was completely necessary (except in his sleep, apparently—he was mumbling something incomprehensible as Rose passed); Michael Bexley, the tall dark-haired boy who always had some sort of feud going on with James and who seemed to be drooling; Charlie Finnigan, skinny blonde Seeker and James' best friend, who Rosie had dated briefly in the beginning of last year (it hadn't ended well, but at least James had been happy it was over) and slept with a foot hanging off the side of his bed; and James himself, who was snoring rather loudly as Rose rifled through his belongings.

She searched for ages, but couldn't find what she was looking for. Rose was about to give up entirely when, on a gamble, she stuck her hand underneath James' mattress and her hand touched something slippery and smooth.

Barely suppressing a triumphant whoop, Rose grasped the material and pulled; the old Invisibility Cloak that had once belonged to her uncle Harry slid out from beneath the mattress and tumbled lightly into Rose's lap. It seemed to be wrapped around a sheaf of parchment; Rose unwrapped it and grinned. _The Marauder's Map._ It seemed to be her lucky day; but what kind of idiot hid both the Cloak and the Map in the same place?

She rolled her eyes and picked up the Map, but the other papers caught her eye before she could slide it into her pocket. It was a glossy sheaf of parchment, splayed with the images of several different busty witches demonstrating the various sexual things they were willing to do to have their picture in a magazine.

_Lovely._

Rose rolled her eyes and pulled out her wand, using a handy little charm she'd just learned to rearrange the letters on the front cover to spell out a note for her cousin should he discover that the Cloak and the Map were missing:

_I'll bring them back, I swear._

_You can keep the magazine._

_---_

Rose's feet hit the freezing ground with a soft thud. She turned around and regarded the Honeyduke's back window that she'd just climbed out of, deciding it was best to leave it open so she could get back in and through that secret passageway without having to risk an alarm on the front door. A frigid gust of wind blew right through Rose's core and she pulled the Cloak tighter around herself before setting off towards the glowing windows of the Healing Center.

---

_**A/N:**__ I know it's short, and the ending is rather abrupt, but I wrote this chapter fully and it ended up being nearly fifteen pages as opposed to my average seven. I promise the next one will be up fantastically quick._

_Special thanks to the Shins, without whom I would have no means to write Juliet's character, and Motion City Soundtrack for Rosie inspiration._

_Please review!_


	4. oo4 Draughts and Drops

**Chapter 4 : Draughts and Drops**

**5 September 2023**

Healing Centers were a relatively new development in the Wizarding world, but they had multiplied exponentially, taking over popular magical haunts such as Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade by storm. They were clean and mostly white, with sterile looking blue lights and bored, gum-chewing Welcome! witches fresh out of school stationed at the registers. Their main attraction was the simple convenience—no longer would one have to brew potions in their own time or keep a stock at home. If a wizard felt queasy, or had trouble sleeping, he could simply pick up a Draught from the Healing Center around the corner; if a witch needed to replenish blood in an accident she could get the potion faster than you can say 'Quidditch.' Healing Centers became immensely popular, and the result was that they grew larger, more frequent, and much more advanced as time went on, placing them in severe juxtaposition with the other more old-fashioned shops.

For example: Rose Weasley was currently walking along the streets of Diagon Alley, and the pale blue light of the Healing Center was the only thing penetrating the darkness of the late hour besides that merry orange glow of candles—and that was even dimmer than usual, for it was late and the only thing open seemed to be the Hog's Head pub, from which loud drunken singing could be heard.

Rose hurried on past the pub and into the Center, afraid that she would run into someone she knew—or someone that knew her. After all, the Hog's Head was run by Uncle Neville's wife Hannah, and survivors of the war—usually longtime family friends—often frequented it. The Center was sanctuary for her; the older generation often shunned the new stores, preferring to do things 'the old-fashioned way.'

The second the door clicked shut behind her, it was as if Rose had stepped into another world. The drunken singing was all but silenced by the closing of the door, and now it could only very faintly be heard above the buzzing of the magical blue lights that hung a few feet above Rose's head. The Welcome! witch at the counter had not even bothered to look up at the sound of the door opening and then closing again; she merely popped the gum that she was currently chewing and turned the page of her Witch Weekly magazine.

Rose strode quickly past the counter and towards the D. U. I. N. aisle, careful to remain silent. This entire operation had proved to be entirely too easy; she'd expected at least a Secrecy Sensor to go off, and had trusted in the Cloak to keep her hidden until the disturbance was pronounced a fluke. So far, however, nothing of the sort had happened; the amount of good fortune Rose seemed to have had on this trip was disconcerting to say the least.

She'd reached her destination—the three-to-a-pack Ennervation Draughts were right in front of her. Rose checked the prices; one pack for three Sickles, two for five. _Perfect._

Slowly, gingerly, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the five silver Sickles, placing them neatly on the shelf beside the product. In exchange, she took two packs and stowed them safely in a pocket of the Cloak. This was going too well.

Suddenly, the store's image swam in front of her, and the back of Rose's neck began to prickle. She knew what was coming, even in her sleep-deprived state; another glimpse into the future. Rose closed her eyes and sank into it, wanting the whole ordeal to be done with.

_An all-too-familiar face, quickly joined by his sister, both short, stout figures advancing in on Rose. "Miss me?" The harsh voice rings out across the room, and then suddenly a flash of light, a flash of purple light, and one of the two figures goes down. A savage yell, frighteningly animal and yet so oddly familiar…_

Finally back to reality, Rose felt unsteady, clammy, sweaty. She knew her hands were shaking, and the ceiling was closing in on her; she needed to get out of the Healing Center. This was too strange.

Of course, Rose had gotten visions since she was very small. At first, they'd only been dreams; little things, too, like the next day's lunch, or a tumble down the stairs. The little things had come so often, and Rose was so young… She'd thought them mundane, normal. It wasn't until she was about six that the nightmares came; they woke her out of those famously deep sleeps with bloodcurdling screams, screams of _"no, don't, won't…"_

And then the nightmares came into fruition, and her parents realized that she wasn't normal. Ever since… _that night,_ the night that Rose refused to speak of, the night that changed her forever, Rose had had two kinds of visions, two kinds of nightmares; some from the past, and some from the future.

Her mother Hermione had described Rose as being 'unstuck in time,' saying that the girl was just _gifted_ in that sense. Rose supposed that to someone else her little 'time trysts' could have been called a gift, but to her, well, the ventures into the past were terrifying, and those into the future simply annoying. They often came up at the worst times, and she always had such a terrific headache afterwards…

But this time was different. A face from the past, but it had felt more like a scene from the future… could they be merging? Rose hoped fleetingly that she was simply going mad, but that couldn't be so, for those who go mad don't ever know it. Right?

She was walking, now, down the streets of Hogsmeade, hurrying, the two packets of Ennervation Draught heavy against her thigh (they came in individual glass bottles, three per pack), not looking where she was going. The latest vision had seriously rattled her, and now all she wanted was to get back to the castle, to curl up in her bed with a good book, to stay awake—possibly forever, if she could manage it, and maybe longer; after all, there was no way—

"Oof!" Rose collided with something largeish and warm with the distinct aroma of Firewhiskey. She wrinkled her nose unconsciously—the smell was simply _horrid_ on a person—and noted the breeze around her head; the Cloak's hood must have fallen off.

_Damn._

Rose hoped to Merlin, to Godric, to… everyone she could name that whoever she'd bumped into was someone who wouldn't know her from the next little Hogwarts witch, but the second the man she'd knocked into had spoken, she knew who it was—despite the obvious drunken slur to their speech.

"Rosie?"

Rose looked slowly, sullenly, up into the drunken face of George Weasley and frowned, thinking fast. If it was Uncle George, there could be a way for her to get out of it… especially if he was this drunk. She'd just have to play her cards right.

"Uncle George! I'm surprised to see you out this late," she said loudly and clearly, looking him directly in the eye.

"I could say the same to you," he said; his speech started out slightly slurred, but the enunciation had been expertly modified by the end of the sentence. Still, his tone made Rose frown; it was even more hollow and haunted than usual, though still a thousand times better than it had been when Rose was very young. Apparently Firewhiskey brought up unpleasant memories for her uncle—she knew that he had had a twin, killed in the war. Before anyone in her generation save Teddy had been born.

No more digression—Rose had a plan already. "Does Aunt Angelina know you're in Hogsmeade?"

"Of course!" Uncle George looked highly affronted. "I'm here on b—business."

"Business with old school friends?" It was a guess, but apparently Rose had hit the mark. Though George's face showed no emotion, the fingers in his left hand twitched once—a lie was coming.

"Business keeping Roxie in school. I had a late meeting." Rose simply raised her eyebrows, and George blinked—there was a moment of silence and then George grinned. "I forgot; you're the bullshit detector."

Rose grinned at the nickname. "I won't tell if you don't," she said simply. She would never be this bold with any other uncles, but George had always valued trickery—when she was seven and she and Al had snuck away from their parents in Diagon Alley using a tricky maneuver involving a toppled stack of cauldrons by the Apothecary. They'd gotten all the way to Quality Quidditch Supplies before George had found them, but when he'd heard of their well-thought out trickery, he'd taken the fall for them, looking incredibly proud.

Rather how he looked now.

He smiled even more widely down at Rose and shook his head. "Tricky little bugger. On your way, then."

She wrinkled her nose and put the Cloak's hood back on, trotting back to the castle with more energy than she'd had in days.

Adventures did that to you.

**12 September 2023**

A week passed, and Rose still hadn't slept. The Ennervation Draughts worked wonders, however, and even Nora had stopped her nagging. Still, Rose looked paler than usual—almost gray—and she was clumsier than ever; but at least she was awake and mostly alert, and she got to avoid sleeping at all. Beggars couldn't really be choosers, she reckoned.

And Quidditch was coming up! It would be the first game of the season—Rose's first game at Hogwarts at all—and against Slytherin. There was much pre-game buzz; would best friends Al and Rose go easy on each other? Could Rose and her ex-boyfriend Charlie actually work together on a team when it had ended so badly last year? Would there be excess sibling rivalry between brothers—and now Captains as well—Albus and James? And—this had little to do with Quidditch, unless you counted that they were both Chasers on opposing teams—what exactly was up with formerly inseparable Rose and Scorpius?

Okay, so a lot of this was just what Rose was worrying about, but most of the questions could be answered. Rose and Al were close, yes, but they also had a healthy amount of rivalry; no way would either go easy on the other, even if it was plausible (which it wasn't, as Rose was a Chaser and Albus a Seeker). As for Charlie, well—practice had started about a week ago, and it was awkward to say the least, but they didn't interact more than needed. Not to mention that both cared about Quidditch too much to let a little something like several broken hearts (that's right, _several_) stand in the way of winning.

And there was always excess sibling rivalry between James and Albus. Obviously there would be much, much more now that they were both Captains—that wasn't even a mystery.

No, what Rose was worrying about was the very last question—and that worry had her staring over at the Slytherin table with a woeful expression on the morning of the match instead of eating breakfast like she always did.

"Is this going to become a habit?" Nora's voice, loud and sarcastic, rattled in Rose's brain. She frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"Staring over at the Slytherin table like you're going to barf."

Oh. Well.

True, Rose had been looking over there more than ever this year, but the Slytherin table held the people she was most concerned about—Al was still acting weird, and Scorpius… She trailed off into her woe-begotten stare again.

"You know, you have nothing to worry about. You're better at Quidditch than almost anyone I know—and that includes myself."

"What?" Rose looked back at Nora and blinked. "No, I'm not nervous about the match. It's just…" She looked back over at Scorpius, feeling terrible. "I've never gone this long without talking to him."

_At least,_ a wry little voice in her mind said, _he looks just as miserable._ _If not more so._ It was true; Scorpius was barely picking at his food, staring at it like it was the saddest thing in the world while Albus frowned over at Rose, like this was her fault.

"It's your fault, you know," Nora said bluntly, scanning the Slytherin table herself before looking back to Rose.

"Nora!" That was harsh—harsher than Rose needed. Her anger was short-lived, however; within seconds she was back to dejection. "You think so?"

"Obviously." Again, a little too blunt; Rose was going to have to talk to Nora about the finer points of sensitivity. "If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine, but don't expect him to think it's nothing and just brush it off. He's worried about you, it's obvious. And _you're_ the one ignoring _him,_ remember. All you have to do is go talk to him."

Rose furrowed her brow. "I can't."

"Yes, you can," Nora said, raising her eyebrows. "You just don't want to."

It was a relief to get out of breakfast and onto the grounds; Rose had her Nimbus 2017 slung over her shoulder as she loped down to the locker room with Nora, who had been a Beater on the team for since third year. Rose had shut down the Scorpius-related conversation pretty fully at breakfast, and now the girls were chattering excitedly about the upcoming game.

At least, they had been, until Rose sort of… shut down. She'd been consistently losing energy since breakfast, and could barely keep her eyes open—thankfully, the girl had had the foresight to bring her last two bottles of Ennervation Draught with her. She'd sneak them in the bathroom before she changed—true, students used them all the time, but Nora would ask uncomfortable questions. Not to mention that two at a time was technically an overdose—though Rose had been taking two at a time for weeks, and she felt no different. 'Dangerous Unless Within Dosage,' indeed.

Once they got down to the locker room, Rose excused herself and went into the small bathrooms. When she was sure that no one would come in, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the two bottles—they were about the size of her palm, short and round with a short little neck. She glanced at the label—'Caution! Do Not Exceed One Dose In Twenty-Four Hours!'—and downed one, two just like that. The concoction tasted like nothing, but it fizzed unpleasantly all the way down her throat; Rose had to work to keep from gagging. It went down in the end, however, and she binned the bottles and left the bathroom as quickly as she could, not wanting to seem suspicious.

Already, energy was returning to her; she felt it tingling through her limbs as she retrieved her new scarlet Quidditch robes from her locker, felt it hop through her heartbeat as she changed, felt it buzz around in her head while James gave his little 'Captain speech.' She could barely concentrate, for she was too jittery; the feeling was just lovely.

Once that was over and done with, the team all lined up—leaving space in the front for James, who was Chaser and Captain, and in the middle for Rose, who was also a Chaser. Before Rose could join them, however, James held her back and slipped a small, round bottle in his hand.

"You still looked tired," he said, ruffling her hair a little. "One for the road?"

Rose grinned and downed the bottle—never mind that she'd just had two. A third would only bring her more energy on the field, which was good, right?

Right.

Up she went, up into the clouds, and there was a roar from the crowd as Rose expertly snatched the Quaffle from the Slytherin Captain's hands. Now she was moving, faster than sound, faster than wind towards the goal post, and then—

_Whoosh!_ A Bludger flew right past her ear and Rose had to do a one-eighty to avoid it; it made her feel faintly sick, and her fingers slipped on the Quaffle but she held on. If she made this one in, it would be her third goal in the game, and everyone would be so proud of the new girl on the team, of that Rose Weasley with her hair like fire and her strange liking for those two Slytherin boys.

She was one-minded, she was concentrating solely on the quickly approaching goalpost, she would fake to the left and then sent it soaring through the right, it was all planned out and she felt fierce and slightly nauseas, and the lights were very bright and she felt rather dizzy—

The crowd gasped as Rose swerved for no reason and she righted herself, shaking her head. It was coming, the goal post was here, and she threw herself onto the broom and swerved to the side so that she could throw it in as planned and then suddenly there was this _noise_, this animal noise coming closer and closer and Rose felt more afraid than she ever had in her life. She looked to her right and there was Albus, her friend and cousin, flying towards her with those jet-black eyes and his teeth bared, and suddenly Rose felt like she would be sick and she knew that the noise was _coming from him_ and dear Merlin he was coming at her and she wondered vaguely if she'd taken too much Ennervation Draught and she felt the Quaffle drop from her hands, saw Al coming for her unaware of the Quaffle and she put her skinny arms up over her head, he was going to kill her, devour her, she was nothing but a little girl alone in some grungy basement with two Death Eaters and they had that same black look on her face, they were going to kill her and the world was spinning and before she lost consciousness she saw Albus brake and blink, eyes green again and face white and terrified as he watched her fall, fall to the ground, fall to the earth and her certain death.

_**A/N:**__ I fully wanted to make a 'like Starbucks in New York' reference while describing the Healing Center bits, but couldn't find a way to work it in while writing a fic that's set in England. Sorry—it could have been awesome. x/3. And sorry about the cliffhanger, and sorry about the horrible run-on sentences in the last bit—it was conscious, I promise. I meant for it to sound choppy and full of energy. Imagine it like… Rose's brain on overdrive._

_Special thanks this time goes to Tina101 for Pming me her theory—it was quite good, I wish I'd thought of it myself—and for reviewing and favoriting. As always, you should do the same! Thanks. x3fffiction._


	5. oo5 Anger and Apologies

Chapter Five :

**Chapter Five : Anger & Apologies**

**12 September 2023**

"_You can't catch me!"_

_Rose looked up just in time to see a flash of the little girl's red hair disappear around a corner. Where was she, anyway? The place looked almost like a labyrinth, but the walls seemed to be made of a smooth, opaque sort of glass. Rose frowned and blinked around the queer place, but before she could further investigate she heard an echo of laughter. The little girl! Rose had to follow her!_

_She launched herself forward and around the corner just in time to see the girl disappear again—and again, and again, until Rose's breathing became slow and labored and she felt as though she would collapse from fatigue. Panting, she stopped running and, unable to keep herself upright, sat square on the floor. "Why am I even chasing this girl?" she asked herself quietly, letting her head drop into her hands._

"_You must follow her." Rose looked up, surprised, to see a familiar figure standing above her._

"_S—Scorpius?"_

"_She has a message for you." The boy's gray eyes were cold and unblinking. Rose felt her nose go numb, and knew she was going to cry._

"_Scorpius, I'm sorry, I—"_

"_Go!"_

_Distraught but filled with renewed vigor, Rose knew she had no choice but to get up and continue running. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of pounding through the labyrinth, she spotted the figure of the little girl standing like an angel against a backdrop of light, her back to Rose. She let her pace slow to a walk and approached the little girl, her heart pounding with a force that had nothing to do with the exercise._

"_I have a message for you."_

_That voice… it was so familiar, yet so distant. Rose blinked and stepped slightly closer, trying to place it._

"_Are you listening?"_

"_Y—yes." The word made Rose gasp, for in speaking herself she knew where she'd heard the little girl's voice, where she'd been hearing it all her life—_

_Rose knew what the little girl was going to look like before she'd even finished turning around. Those big blue eyes, that mass of curly red hair—it could only be one person._

"_We have to save him."_

_The younger Rose's voice was somber, and neither girl blinked as they regarded one another. The older Rose nodded, then stopped—she couldn't help it, she had to clarify, it was her nature. "W—who must we save?" she asked cautiously, the 'we' pronoun feeling foreign to her in this context. "Scorpius? Al? James?"_

"_You will know when the time is right."_

_The older Rose blinked, feeling frustration well up in her. "That's not good enough!" she heard herself yell, surprised by her own savagery. "_You're_ not good enough! I need to know _now,_ I need to figure this out—"_

"_Then figure it out. By yourself."_

"_I—"_

"_Go."_

_Despite her unfinished business here, the older Rose felt herself being lifted out of the scene as though from a Penseive. She struggled to remain grounded, to yell further protests, but it was no use; she seemed to have lost control of her body. And now, the light surrounding the younger Rose was becoming blinding, so blinding that it was giving way into total darkness…_

"Eeuurrgh…"

A groan escaped Rose's lips as she forced her eyes open to the darkness around her. She tried to lift her hands to rub her aching eyes and was surprised by the weight; she had to really pull to move them at all. The imprint of her dream was lucid in her mind, and she had to blink a few times to remember what had last happened in the real world, where she was…

Before she could figure things out, however, several things happened at once. First, the entire area around Rose filled with light, so quickly that it nearly blinded her and forced her eyes shut; second, something heavy and full of force hit both her ears at once, making her groan again and much louder than before; and third, some sort of screeching noise had begun, making Rose's head hurt even more. It took her a moment to recognize the screeching to be any sort of words at all.

"…You _idiotic_ girl, you could have been _killed,_ your mum and dad would have been _furious,_ I don't know _what_ you were thinking, you are so _lucky_ it was me on duty and not Madame Pomfrey…"

Rose blinked a few times and her eyes adjusted to the light; when they did and she recognized the figure storming about the hospital wing every little bit of her wished that she had remained asleep.

Victoire Weasley had graduated Hogwarts with honors six years ago, and ever since she had been training vigorously to become a Healer. Three years after she graduated, Madame Pomfrey, who was really getting on in years, had decided to take on an apprentice, and immediately remembered darling Victoire, who had always been so helpful in the hospital wing during her free time. Ever since, Victoire had been stationed at Hogwarts, where she and Madame Pomfrey took turns running the hospital wing. It was just Rose's unfortunate luck that tonight was Victoire's night on duty, as the beautiful girl that was so famous for inheriting her Veela great-grandmother's anger was now stomping around the hospital wing waving her arms above her head, yelling at Rose so loudly she was sure the entire castle would be roused.

"Vic—Vic, please, calm down, I'm _fine_—" Rose tried to placate her cousin, but apparently this was precisely the wrong thing to say. Upon hearing the word 'fine,' Victoire became quite still and rounded on Rose, her beautiful blue eyes tinted a Veela golden with rage.

"_You—are—not—fine,_" she said in a deadly voice. Rose felt the blood drain from her face and simply cowered beneath her terribly beautiful cousin, hoping that that Veela temper would subside soon—and wondering how many generations passed before a part-Veela stopped sprouting feathers.

"I—I'm sorry," Rose peeped in as small a voice she could manage. "I didn't think—"

"Yes, well, I knew that already." As suddenly as Victoire's rage had flown up, it was now almost completely gone, replaced by a cool businesslike manner as the girl bustled around the hospital wing gathering potions and cleaning up the general mess. "I swear to Merlin, Rosie, if you _ever again_ do something as stupid as overdosing on Ennervation Draught again, I will personally see to it that you are _punished._" Victoire's eyes flashed golden again as she shot her cousin a glare, and Rose felt herself sink back into her bed with fear. There was a moment in which neither girl spoke, and then Rose could not help herself any longer and asked the question on her mind.

"Who—who else knows?"

Victoire heaved a sigh. "Thankfully I've been able to suppress the spread of rumours by writing it off to severe fatigue, but of course the Quidditch team had to know as they saw you take the last dose. No one but Nora knows about the other two, however—she was the one who found the empty bottles in the bin and tried to hide them from me." Rose cringed, grateful that Nora would try and protect her but dreading the abundance of lectures she knew were coming from her stern best friend. Victoire continued, unaware of the turmoil in Rose's mind. "Al knows—he looked almost worse than you did when everyone brought you in, I swear. And I think he told your boyfriend Scorpius—"

"What?" Rose's eyebrows jumped up to the heavens. How could Victoire know? "He—he's not my boyfriend—"

"Please, Rose, don't patronize me. I could barely get him to leave your side tonight. He was just sitting there by the bed, holding your hand and looking like he was going to cry or something. The only person I had more trouble kicking out than him was James."

"James?" Rose smiled. Her cousin had always been protective, but he must have been extra concerned for her in this case, as Scorpius was around. She vaguely wondered if either boy had tried to pick a fight.

"You know how he is," said Victoire, rolling her eyes. "Oh, before I forget—your boyfriend left this for you." She reached into the pocket of her robes and pulled out a neatly folded piece of parchment, handing it over to Rose and giving the girl a kiss on the top of the head. "Try to sleep. I'll be just in there." Victoire left the hospital wing and entered her quarters, leaving Rose alone with the parchment. Slowly, the girl unfolded it and stared at it for a long time, trying to decipher the two words written there despite the growing lump in her throat:

_I'm sorry._

**13 September 2023**

Sleeping soundly after two weeks of insomnia is a beautiful thing, as Rose discovered from her time in the hospital wing. And there was nothing worse, she learned, than being roused from that beautiful sleep by someone or something else—especially when that someone or something else was unidentifiable.

It was a strange sort of sound that woke Rose; it sounded almost like snoring, but that was impossible as she was surely the only one in the wing. Frowning grumpily, the girl sat up in bed and looked around at the empty beds, then down at her own.

What was _that_? Rose barely stifled the scream in her throat when she saw the disembodied hand splayed across the bed by her leg. Slowly, Rose reached to the bedside stand, where her wand waited for her. Once she'd gripped the wand, she sat there, unsure of what to do, for at least two minutes before making a split second decision that she wasn't positive would work.

"_Petrificus Totalis!_" the girl whispered, and the effect was instantaneous; the hand jerked and then slid off the bed, rigid against an invisible body and, upon hitting the floor, making all too much noise to be disembodied. As it fell, the snoring stopped and was replaced by a muffled shriek; slowly, Rose began to comprehend the situation and reached down warily.

Gently, she pulled the Invisibility Cloak off of the now-awake form of James Potter, who was lying on the ground next to the empty chair beside her bed looking apologetic and drowsy.

Suppressing a giggle, Rose performed the countercurse and leaned back in her bed while James righted himself and straightened his glasses, then sat in the chair. They were both silent for a minute or so, and then:

"Can I ask…?" Rose ventured, giving her cousin a strange look. James jumped slightly at the noise, looking unnaturally skittish and not at all like his cool, confident self.

"I—I'm so sorry, Rose, I had no idea you had already… It's all my fault, you can tell your parents that, I'm so sorry. I wanted to sit with you, but Vic kicked me out so I had to sneak back in and stay under the Cloak, I didn't mean to fall asleep, it's all my fault—"

"James." Rose smiled kindly at her cousin, who now had his head in his hands. "It's not your fault…"

"Yes it is!" The boy seemed near hysterical. "It's my job to protect you, all of you—"

"That's not your job!" Rose was getting a little annoyed, and it came through in her tone, which shut James up straightaway. "You just _make_ it your job. James, I'm sixteen; old enough to make my own decisions. I wouldn't have taken that potion you gave me if I had been thinking at all, and you know it. I was perfectly capable of refusing. This. Is. My. Fault. Got it?"

James nodded, sighing. "I suppose you're right. But I _am_ the oldest, and that does give me responsibility. Besides, with you running around all the time with that Malfoy, I can barely keep an eye on you as it is. You'd think during Quidditch I could keep you from disaster."

"Would you give that a rest? James, Scorpius isn't like his dad. He's… he's sweet. And I lo… I like him. A lot. Shouldn't that be all that matters?"

James regarded his cousin for a minute, and despite the fact that Rose omitted the 'L word' she knew that he was thinking over her statement as if she hadn't. After a moment, he sighed.

"You really like him?"

"I do."

"And you trust him?"

"More than anyone."

"Then I'll lay off." Rose raised her eyebrows, surprised at how easily James had given in. She was so sure that he would have stuck to his guns—

"But can I ask you a question?" Ah, there it was, the dreaded 'but'. Rose nodded warily. "Why aren't you two speaking anymore?"

Rose jumped; she often forgot how perceptive James could be. Despite the fact that he was often self-centered—even arrogant—he was obviously more than aware of the goings-on of his cousins. She sighed, looking down at her hands in her laps. "I had another… _episode_ a few weeks ago, and he wanted me to tell him what was up, and you know I don't talk about it—"

"You want my advice?"

Rose frowned. "Sure."

"If you love him as much as you seem to, you should tell him. It might be good for you to talk about it, anyway. You don't always have to carry every burden alone, Rosie."

With that, James stood and ruffled Rose's hair. "I assume you'll be fine if I leave?"

Rose, dumbstruck, simply nodded and watched her cousin go, marveling at his well-hidden wisdom.

**13 September 2023**

By the time morning rolled around, Victoire deemed Rose well enough to leave the hospital wing, and the girl had a mission. Thankfully, she had no time to back out, as the mission was completed almost as quickly as it had begun; she ran into Scorpius only a few minutes after she'd set out to find him. For a moment, they just stood facing one another, neither meeting the other's eyes. Rose knew that she had to say something—after all, she had decided last night to tell him everything. She had to make the first move.

"We—" Rose began, but she stopped, cut off as the world swam in front of her. She furrowed her brow and shook her head, but it was no use—another vision was coming, the third in two weeks. _This is getting ridiculous._ They had never come this often before. With an annoyed sigh, she let herself slip into it, hoping it wouldn't be long…

"_Stop it!" Rose's voice was an anguished scream, and the girl looked to be launching herself at her cousin, whose eyes were black again. He was muttering something, not paying any attention to the girl's distress. "I said stop it! They're not worth it—don't do this! STOP!"_

"_She said to stop." Scorpius' voice, now, and then a fight broke out between the boys, Rose sobbing in the background…_

The vision faded away and left Rose shaking, fighting tears. Scorpius looked awkwardly concerned; he put out a hand as if to comfort her, but then seemed to think better of it. "Are you okay?" he asked, his warm gray eyes radiating unease. Rose collected herself with some difficulty, then nodded.

"Yes, I just… I had another flash, and it—it wasn't pretty. I'm okay now, though."

"Good." There was an awkwardly long pause in which Rose and Scorpius fought to call forth the right words, and then:

"I wanted to—"

"You don't have to—"

Both teenagers started speaking at the same time and then stopped, embarrassed. Rose frowned. "I'm sorry. You go."

"Er, well, I was actually on my way to visit you… I wanted to tell you that I was sorry. You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to. When I saw you fall on the Quidditch field, I—" His voice broke. "I can't stand not being around you."

Rose smiled and took a step forward, grabbing Scorpius' large pale hand in her small one. "I'm sorry too. I'll tell you everything."

"I told you, you don't have to—"

"I want to."

Rose took another step closer to her boyfriend and he smiled—it was the most beautiful thing she'd seen in days. "I want to share this with you because I think I'm ready. And… someone reminded me recently that I don't have to do this all on my own." She looked up into his eyes and wound her arms around his neck, smiling. "Besides, I missed you too."

"You did?" Scorpius asked, feigning innocent curiosity. "Whyever would you miss a git like me?"

"Because I love you, you idiot," Rose replied, smiling. That said, she went up on her toes and kissed her boyfriend for the first time in weeks, feeling happier than she had all year.

_**A/N: **__Thanks again to my lovely betapie, __**leftsockarchive**__. Again, please review, and drop by my thread in __**Shameless Plugs**__ if you get the chance. Cheers!_


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